di-GPS (a GPS solution for Nikon and FujiFilm)

Exactly a year ago I posted about GPS devices. Part of the post was about GPS - enabled cameras and how automatic geo-tagging of pictures would streamline the process of sharing and storing the pictures. Now after a year the GPS technology has made inroads into many consumer products, but I am still not aware of any consumer photo camera with built in GPS unit.

On the other hand as some of you already know, I have been shopping for a new DSLR camera recently. I finally settled on the FujiFilm S5 Pro and one of the important contributors to my decision (versus Sigma SD14) was the GPS support. The FujiFilm S5 Pro is an interesting design, as it is based on the Nikon D200 body (I posted on the S5 Pro last month), and supports most of the accessories designed for the Nikon, GPS being one of them.

I was naive to expect the Nikon GPS solution would be elegant. But the reality is Nikon is not an iPod and while being a "professional" it is quite often bulky and conservative. So how do you actually equip a Nikon camera with a GPS unit? The starting point is the MC-35 GPS Adapter Cord. Costing half of a kingdom, this is just a cable, not GPS! Just a cable with a Nikon proprietary plug on one end and a bulky DB9 RS-232 plug on the other end. Then, according to the product manual you need a GPS unit (like the Garmin eTrex) and another RS-232 cable with another bulky DB9 RS-232 connector. The good news is this setup works. The bad news is it costs a fortune and weighs (two cables and a GPS) as much as the camera itself. No... that was not what I really wanted.

So I started searching the Web for a better solution. This solution ranked second on the Google's search result. It just shows how determined Nikon users are to have a decent, streamlined device. But really should it be that way: buying a top DSLR body and then spending a week in the garage with a drill and soldering iron to fix everything in place? Noo... while better than having two big plugs and an unnecessarily long cable, this was not a solution I was ready to accept. So the search went on... I found the solution from www.redhensystems.com, but this was not meeting my expectations either. And finally there it was: di-GPS from a small Hong-Kong company called Dawn Technology Limited. As it seemed what I wanted, I clicked on the purchase link, despite the hefty $283 price tag and in just two days it arrived at my doorstep and works flawlessly since then.

The di-GPS is based on the SiRF Star III platform, still one of the best GPS chipsets available. It has great sensitivity, so it picks GPS signals even in poor conditions like beneath trees or in urban areas with tall buildings around. The only problem I noticed is the long position acquisition time when moving at a high speed, especially on a jet plane, but while it would be potentially handy to have pictures from a plane geo-tagged, this is not what you do very often.

The di-GPS story tells us two other things. First there are great niches for small, but great niche companies, Dawn Technology being a perfect example here. Perfect product and perfect handling resulting in a very happy customer, willing to spread the word. And second - the power of the Internet and global reach it gives to small companies thinking on a global scale. The di-GPS unit I ordered Sunday evening arrived from Hong Kong to Poland in two days, usually it takes longer for local products to reach me. So the physical distance really does not matter these days.